Aiming for his ninth title at the Gerry Weber Open, Roger Federer scored a 6-4, 7-6(3) first-round victory over Jan-Lennard Struff on Wednesday afternoon. Federer struck 11 aces, never faced a break point, and got the job done after one hour and 13 minutes.
“It was hard to find a rhythm against Struff today,” world No. 3 explained. “He took the ball early, went for a lot on the forehand (and the) backhand. He has a big serve, especially the first one. So then you go back to basics; you focus on your own serve. I thought I did that very well. He never really had chances on my own serve, so that was comforting.
“I feel after the first round, after having played last week, actually maybe something is really possible here. I don’t want to get too carried away but I feel like if I serve the way I did today and I’m able to step it up just a little bit on the return from the baseline, all of a sudden I’m dangerous for anybody.”
Speaking of dangerous, Dominic Thiem is possibly on a collision course for the final with Federer. They just squared off in the Stuttgart semifinals, with the red-hot world No. 7 triumphing in three sets. Thiem ultimately lifted the winner’s trophy, defeating Philipp Kohlschreiber in the title match on Monday.
With almost no time off, the 22-year-old Austrian got right back in action on Wednesday and beat Joao Sousa 7-5, 6-4. He now owns 46 wins this season, two more than world No. 1 Novak Djokovic. Thiem will go up against Teymuraz Gabashvili in round two on Thursday, while Federer is facing Malek Jaziri.
Federer-Struff highlights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DYfndh4u_k
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